{"id":141097,"date":"2025-08-13T01:16:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T01:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/141097\/"},"modified":"2025-08-13T01:16:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T01:16:14","slug":"partners-are-on-the-same-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/141097\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Partners are on the same team\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Did you hear? Couples that gossip together stay together.<\/p>\n

A new study from UC Riverside, titled\u00a0\u201cSpill the Tea, Honey: Gossiping Predicts Well-Being in Same- and Different-Gender Couples,\u201d revealed that couples who gossip together are not only bonded more deeply but also happier and more satisfied in their romance.<\/p>\n

\"Gossiping<\/p>\n

Gossiping with your partner can benefit your relationship, experts say. alfa27 \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether or not we want to admit it, everyone gossips,\u201d Chandler Spahr, first author of the study, told UC Riverside<\/a>. \u201cGossip is ubiquitous.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that might not be such a bad thing.<\/p>\n

A team of researchers tracked 76 romantic couples \u2014 both same-gender and different-gender \u2014 using a portable listening device called the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR).<\/p>\n

This device passively recorded snippets of daily conversation.<\/p>\n

However, it is worth noting that the device captured only about 14% of participants\u2019 daily speech, and all the couples recorded were from Southern California.<\/p>\n

According to the results, participants gossiped for an average of 38 minutes per day \u2014 with nearly 29 of those minutes spent gossiping with their partner.<\/p>\n

\"\u201cWhether<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether or not we want to admit it, everyone gossips,\u201d Chandler Spahr, first author of the study, told UC Riverside. \u201cGossip is ubiquitous.\u201d Wisky \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

And everyone was better off for it.<\/p>\n

Across the board, couples who gossiped more frequently reported higher levels of personal happiness. Gossip was also linked to better relationship quality, although the effect was slightly less pronounced.<\/p>\n

Same-sex couples overall reported higher well-being than their different-sex counterparts \u2014 especially woman-woman couples.<\/p>\n

Senior author Megan Robbins explained that gossiping may function as a tool of emotional intimacy.<\/p>\n

For example, she noted that often after leaving social gatherings together, couples will rehash what they learned from and thought of everybody else in the room.<\/p>\n

This kind of post-event gossip \u2014 whether playfully catty or positively reflective \u2014 helps reinforce emotional alignment and feelings of closeness, trust and solidarity.<\/p>\n

\u201cNegatively gossiping with one\u2019s romantic partner on the way home from a party could signal that the couple\u2019s bond is stronger than with their friends at the party, while positively gossiping could prolong the fun experiences,\u201d the study authors wrote.<\/p>\n

\"According<\/p>\n

According to the results, participants gossiped for an average of 38 minutes daily \u2014 with nearly 29 of those minutes spent gossiping with their partner. Photographee.eu \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

\u201cIt may reinforce the perception that partners are \u2018on the same team,\u2019 enhancing feelings of connectedness, trust and other positive relationship qualities, as well as contributing to overall well-being.\u201d<\/p>\n

Certified sex and relationship expert Dr. Shamyra Howard<\/a> explained to The Post that gossiping enhances both emotional and social intimacy \u2014 two key types of intimacy.<\/p>\n

She defined emotional intimacy as being built when you share feelings, reactions, and little behind-the-scenes truths with your partner and social intimacy as how you navigate the world together.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether it\u2019s harmless gossip, cultural commentary, or your own daily reflections, the magic is in sharing a perspective that belongs to just the two of you. That\u2019s what keeps the bond strong,\u201d she told The Post.<\/p>\n

This research builds on Robbins\u2019 earlier 2019 study<\/a>, which debunked popular myths about gossip \u2014 like the belief that women gossip more maliciously or that poorer people gossip more often.<\/p>\n

That study found the truth to be more nuanced, suggesting gossip is neither inherently bad nor limited to any one demographic.<\/p>\n

\"Across<\/p>\n

Across the board, couples who gossiped more frequently reported higher levels of personal happiness. Gossip was also linked to better relationship quality, although the effect was slightly less pronounced. Svyatoslav Lypynskyy \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in the new study, researchers didn\u2019t distinguish between positive, negative or neutral gossip, proving that it\u2019s the act of sharing perspectives that counts.<\/p>\n

So, if you\u2019re one of the many Americans who say they\u2019re too stressed about money to have sex<\/a>, maybe try spilling some tea to feel connected to your partner.<\/p>\n

However, gossiping isn\u2019t the only way couples can connect on this level.<\/p>\n

Dr. Howard shared five ways to connect emotionally and socially that don\u2019t have to do with talking about others:<\/p>\n

1. Debrief your day together. Share the high points, the low points, and the \u201cyou won\u2019t believe what happened\u201d moments.<\/p>\n

2. React to art or media. Watch a show, read an article, or listen to a podcast together and compare thoughts.<\/p>\n

3. Plan and reflect on shared experiences. From trips to date nights, reliving and dreaming build your shared story.<\/p>\n

4. Swap personal observations. Notice little changes in your environment or community and talk about them.<\/p>\n

5. Ask: \u201cWhat\u2019s your take?\u201d Give each other a random topic, and see where the conversation goes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Did you hear? Couples that gossip together stay together. A new study from UC Riverside, titled\u00a0\u201cSpill the Tea,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":141098,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[84155,84156,84154,84158,84157,159,84153,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-141097","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-chandler-spahr","9":"tag-daily-conversation","10":"tag-emotional-intimacy","11":"tag-gossiping","12":"tag-romantic-couples","13":"tag-science","14":"tag-uc-riverside","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115018818429367151","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}